Juan Manuel Lopez Gets Big KO, Should Not Fight Yuriorkis Gamboa

Last night we saw a great fight between Juan Manuel Lopez and Bernabe Concepcion. We probably saw the fight of the year and the round of the year.

We also saw the reason Lopez will never beat Yuriorkis Gamboa: Lopez gets hit too cleanly and too often.

Before I go any further, Lopez is a pound-for-pound type of fighter and is a great talent. He makes for exciting fights, has big power, and takes chances.

That is why we love to watch him. He takes a lot of chances and at times makes fights that should be easy rather hard.

Last night was a prime example of this. Fighting in front of a packed Puerto Rican crowd, Lopez wanted to impress and he did.

He had Concepicon down in the first round and then went down himself later in the round. He was clearly getting to Concepicon and had him hurt pretty badly.

Although Lopez was down, he really wasn't hurt all that bad. He got clipped by a left hook while trying to finish the fight and was put on the canvas.

Lopez came back strongly in the second and scored a knockdown immediately with a straight left hand. He finally ended matters with another knockdown that left Concepicon hurt badly.

The referee called the fight and Lopez had himself a TKO 2. This fight was the first time that Concepicon felt the canvas and he was there three times.

With the win Lopez moves on to Rafael Marquez in yet another fight to hype Lopez-Gamboa. That will be another exciting fight and shouldn’t last to long.

Gamboa also has to get through Elio Rojas before they can think of a Lopez fight. These two fights take place seven days apart and should pave the way for the Lopez-Gamboa fight.

If this fight happens in early 2011, Gamboa will steamroll through Lopez. Like I said before, Lopez is a great fighter and fun to watch but he can't compete with Gamboa.

Gamboa has the kind of speed and power that few fighters have. He has that raw power that will put anyone on the canvas even if he doesn’t hit you cleanly.

Lopez, for the most part, relies on his speed and power advantage to wipe opponents out. The problem with that is he won't have the speed and power advantage against Gamboa.

Who has the better chin is up in the air as both men have been down. Gamboa has been down more, but he is shoring up his defense and getting hit less frequently.

Putting off this fight for Lopez is not good for him at all. Gamboa is getting better with each fight and by the time he gets in the ring with Lopez he is going to be a wrecking machine.

The more I think about it the more I believe that they are putting this fight off so they can make as much money off Lopez before Gamboa gets a hold of him.

Lopez is a great talent and will have a great career but Gamboa is an otherworldly talent. I hate when people are compared to Mike Tyson, but this guy is a mini Mike Tyson if I have ever seen one.

The question now is, can Lopez be the Buster Douglas to Gamboa’s Tyson? If you ask me Lopez is more like a Trevor Berbick.